Parent claims Fairhaven schools misled her about mandatory testing

FAIRHAVEN — A parent says she felt school officials deceived her when they told her the PARCC test, a standardized test that could replace MCAS, was mandatory.

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By CAROL KOZMA

southcoasttoday.com

By CAROL KOZMA

Posted Apr. 16, 2014 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 16, 2014 at 5:47 AM

By CAROL KOZMA

Posted Apr. 16, 2014 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 16, 2014 at 5:47 AM

» Social News

FAIRHAVEN — A parent says she felt school officials deceived her when they told her the PARCC test, a standardized test that could replace MCAS, was mandatory.

"The intimidation that I have taken to find out that this is not a mandatory test is irritating," Michelle Furtado said, adding that if more parents knew their children could refuse to take the test, she believes they would have told them to do so.

Furtado, whose daughter is in Grade 8 at the Hastings Middle School, said she doesn't think students need more testing. On Friday, when the test was given, her daughter declined to take it, she said.

Although there are no provisions to opt out of the PARCC test, JC Considine, spokesman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said students can refuse to take it.

He added the state needs and wants students to take the test to receive feedback.

The department is piloting the PARCC test, which stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, to determine whether students are learning from the Common Core State Standards adopted in 2010.

Those standards were adopted to prepare students for college or careers, Considine said.

PARCC eventually could replace the MCAS, or Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test, first used in 1998, he said.

Furtado said she contacted Hastings Middle School principal Wayne Miller to ask that her daughter not take the test.

In an email response, Miller quoted part of a letter Rhoda Schneider, General Counsel for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sent to the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents: "State law mandates that all students who are educated with Massachusetts public funds participate in the statewide student assessment program, and the law includes no 'opt-out' provision for parents to remove their children from participating. In short, participation in the PARCC assessment field test is mandatory and not subject to opting out."

Miller told The Standard-Times he was following the state's directive.

He also said Furtado was the only parent who contacted him with concerns about the test.

On Friday, after her daughter refused to participate in the test, her teacher sat her in the back of the testing classroom to make sure students would not stare at her, Furtado said.

She was not immediately allowed to read, but after students started finishing their tests, she was able to do so, Furtado said.